Can rockets really steer and move in the vacuum of space, or is it all just smoke and mirrors?

ANSWER
The claim is false. Rockets and thrusters work in the vacuum of space via Newton's Third Law of Motion: hot exhaust gases are expelled rearward at high speed, producing thrust that propels the spacecraft forward. No external medium (like air) is needed; the rocket pushes against its own exhaust mass. Spacecraft steer using Reaction Control System (RCS) thrusters, which fire small bursts of propellant for attitude control (pitch, yaw, roll). In space, objects have no weight (gravity's force), but retain mass (inertia/resistance to acceleration); rockets accelerate this mass regardless.[1][2][3][4]
EVIDENCE

NASA's Glenn Research Center (Rocket Principles, crawled 2026-04-10): Rockets work better in vacuum than air; exhaust pushes against nothing external but follows Newton's Third Law (action-reaction pair with expelled gases).[1]
Spacecentre.nz (How do rockets work in a vacuum?, crawled 2026-04-07): Rockets push against their own propellant; misconception that they need external medium debunked via Newton's Third Law.[2]
Wikipedia (Reaction Control System, crawled 2026-04-10): RCS thrusters on spacecraft provide steering/translation in vacuum by expelling propellant in desired directions.[3]
NASA (Mass vs. Weight Introduction): Mass (matter amount) is constant; weight (gravity force) is zero in space microgravity, but mass requires force to accelerate via F=ma.[4]
Additional sources (e.g., USA Today fact-check, Nov 30, 2022; Physics Stack Exchange) confirm propulsion via momentum conservation, with vacuum tests/experiments proving thrust.[5]

CREDIBILITY — 10/10. Basic physics principle verified by NASA, experiments, and space missions (e.g., Apollo, Space Shuttle RCS).
BIAS — CENTER (sources: NASA.gov, educational sites, Wikipedia; scientific consensus, no political slant).

The source stays attached.